For the many builders that have already signed up for GC4 - Thank you! AK and I are looking forward to many wonderful builds that you will surely produce.

If you have not yet had a chance to sign-up I would like to encourage you to do so. We are all busy, but I would hope that you would be able to carve out some time to share your creative talents - and help our great faction to maintain our points lead!

Thunder rumbled through the sky as Lord Duncan made his way to Arthos the Tanner's lodging. He reached the door and knocked three times. Arthos opened it, "Lord Duncan, to what do I owe this honour?"he said. "The rumblings of war..." Duncan replied, as another peal of thunder shook the sky "...I think it best we talk inside."

Arthos and Lord Duncan sat by candlelight around the family table inside the tanner's humble abode. Duncan began "The King is dead. Loreesi and Lenfald point the blame and talk of conspiracies and war and the Jarl wants answers before Garheim is dragged in as well". "And how might this involve a simple tanner?" Arthos interrupted "I am too old for wars".

"Lord Duncan raised his eyes to meet the Tanner's, "I was hoping you might still have contacts in the south that might be, shall we say... useful?". Arthos looked sternly at the Lord "Contacts that I wanted to leave behind my Lord". Duncan stared back "We took you in Arthos, during a storm much like tonight's. A loreesi 'merchant' so far from home, no questions asked. You married one of our own, you became an important part of our village. But you will always be a loreesi". "And for your hospitality I am grateful" Arturo replied "but that was almost 20 summers ago. And any 'contacts' I had are likely dead, or still want ME dead. I cannot go back. I will not!".

"Then we send the boy" Duncan suggested. "Esau?" Arthos replied "He has already been enlisted to your militia, and besides, people would recognise him as my son before he opened his mouth". "Then send the other" said Duncan. "Jaykob? He's a dreamer!" retorted Arthos, "He fought in our conquest of the Magic Isles*. And survived..." replied Duncan "He will do. We have forged a treaty with Lenfald, he should be granted safe passage until their southern border. We need only a messenger, not a warrior".

Arthos shook his head "If anything happened to him, it would break his mother's heart." Duncan stood up preparing to leave "Then may the Jarl smile upon his journey..."

"Take this food, it should be about 2 days travel to your Aunt's house. And this map, it will guide you all the way to Loreos." Arthos passed Jaykob the map and the food. After Lord Duncan's visit late the previous night requesting the tanner's help*, Arthos had woke his son early in the morning. It was not yet dawn.

"Hold that horse still boy!" Arthos whispered sternly. Jaykob's cousin, Happy, would travel with him to Lenfald. If they were stopped hopefully Happy would convince them that they were two lenfel citizens heading for the safety of home.

"The difficulty will be crossing the borders" Arthos continued "keep off the main tracks, and away from trouble". The tanner realised the irony of his last statement, for with the nations of Roawia heading to war, trouble is exactly what he was sending his son into.

Jaykob and his cousin left the confines of the village as the sun began to rise. "Well Happy, what an adventure!" said Jaykob, rather ignorant of the dangers that lay ahead "How nice it will be to see Aunt Hilda as well!". Happy looked back at his cousin "When's breakfast?"

Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know that I will not be able to complete an entry for GC4. My life is just a bit too busy here at the end of the school year, and there is not a lot of extra time for building. Thanks for understanding.

Jaykob and his cousin Happy, took his father's advice and stuck to the smaller paths on their journey across the Garheim border and into the the forests of Lenfald. It had been a number of years since he had visited his cousin's family and the fresh greenery and pleasant climate made a welcome change from the snow and chill growing up in Garheim.

They took a wide route to avoid going near an imposing looking castle on a rock and the quiet woodlands felt a long way away from the dangers of war.

Little did they know what lay just around the corner...

"Aaaargh!" Jaykob and Happy shrieked as a Lenfel knight leapt into their path, his sword raised. "Harald you nitwit" the knight said as he removed his helmet and lowered his sword "what the krum are you doing here?"

"Viktor you brute! We thought you were Loreesi, or bandits! You scared us half to death!" exclaimed Happy recognising their supposed assailant as his elder brother "Jaykob and I were just on our way back to mother's".Jaykob hadn't seen his cousin Viktor since they were children, but was jolly relieved to be seeing him now, and not the wrong end of some outlaw's dagger. He began to wonder if this trip to Loreos was a mistake.

"We thought you might be Loreesi spies, our scouts have reported sightings of their forces in this area" continued Viktor "We'll escort you to Illianaro castle, you'll be safe there overnight, and we can then take you safely home tomorrow. Mother will be pleased to have you back safe and sound. And after all, what are big brothers for?"

Last edited by andhe on Mon May 20, 2013 8:58 am, edited 1 time in total.